EU and US statements in the WTO General Council this week cover several interesting issues, including reforming WTO routine work (the stuff that keeps trade flowing as smoothly as possible), developing-country status and more. Here are a few
● streamline Q&As
● help countries talk to each other more
● make all relevant committees equally effective
● cut repetition
● improve WTO databases on all information
● committee chairs to mediate difficult issues
Mind you, publishing the agenda does not mean public transparency. I’ll never forget sending journalists an agenda for an intellectual property meetings. At that time interest was high on access to medicines and biodiversity. One replied: “what the f*** does all this mean?”
7/13
This is what the EU said on behalf of the paper’s authors. By addressing others’ comments, the statement indicates what the concerns are:
● UK-only tariff quotas for beef, lamb and many other farm products. Not with no deal
● Mutual recognition agreements on standards and testing for a long list of products. Not with no deal
How UK 2021 applied tariffs (Global Tariff™️)—many slightly lower than now—affect middle/low income countries
—Value of preferential tariffs eroded slightly
—If no preferences, lower tariffs are beneficial
—Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya not rolled over yet
Tariffs are cut slightly post-transition by converting tariffs in euros to sterling using a low exchange rate and getting rid of low “nuisance” tariffs (below 2%).
Most other eliminated tariffs are not on products that mid/low income countries export.
“The government’s own analysis forecasts that a no-deal Brexit would reduce UK GDP by 7.6% after 15 years, while reaching a free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU would lead to a 4.9% decline”
@SarahLudford I'd say it's grandfathering, "what's protected now stays protected", ie only names protected up to the end of the transition remain protected.
(Once the UK has its own system, *new* EU names would be protected if they meet UK criteria.)
But ...
@SarahLudford Article 54 paragraph 2 (on GIs) of the Withdrawal Agreement is legally complicated. The "grandfathered" protection for existing EU names is tied to EU law. If a name no longer qualifies under EU law, the UK will no longer have to protect it.
@SarahLudford ... and it is clear that the paragraph on geographical indications can be terminated if there is a new UK-EU trade agreement (the subject of Article 184).
I'm not a lawyer but that's the broad picture as I understand it./end
2/14—To keep this simple let’s to look at, post-Brexit/post-transition, …
● the status of British geographical indications (GIs, which are product *names*) IN THE EU
● their status in the REST OF THE WORLD if protected now
— outside an EU agreement
— via an EU agreement
3/14—BRITISH 🇬🇧 NAMES IN THE EU 🇪🇺 (1):
Protection is secured by registering the names as a “(protected) geographical indication” (PGI or GI) or “protected designation of origin” (PDO). (There’s also a “traditional speciality guaranteed” category)